Mid America TEEN CERT and Venturing Crew 2633 are pleased to announce “When Disaster Strikes!” Community Emergency Preparedness Summit, taking place the weekend of November 6-8, 2015 at Beaumont Scout Reservation. This is the first and largest event of its kind and the Greater St. Louis Area Council and Mid America Teen Community Emergency Response Team promise that it will be an extremely fun and educational experience.

GENERAL

The $95 registration fee for the weekend includes:

Camping at Beaumont.

Friday night Crackerbarrel (snack).

20 hours of FEMA G-317 TEEN CERT/CERT training, including requirements for seven merit badges. NOTE: Meals, merit badge cards and patches are not included in the cost of the program.

IMPORTANT: All participants will need to plan to eat dinner prior to arriving at Beaumont Friday, 11/6.

The weekend summit will be focused on learning how to assist in the event of an emergency and or natural disaster and to be prepared to assist their families and emergency services, and to respond to any situation effectively and efficiently without placing themselves in unnecessary danger. Students will be taught how to put out small fires, treat the three medical killers and provide basic medical aid, search for and rescue victims safely, assist people with special and functional needs, and collect disaster intelligence to support first responder efforts.

Through the Mid America TEEN CERT program, all students will receive a certificate of completion for FEMA G-317 TEEN CERT/CERT; any Scouts taking the program have the opportunity to earn their Emergency Preparedness, First Aid, Fire Safety, Safety, Disabilities Awareness, Search and Rescue, and Wilderness Survival merit badges, as well as your Troop may become eligible for the “Emergency Preparedness BSA” award.

This training is open to students as young as age 12 and through adult, including Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, Venturing Crews, Exploring/ Learning for Life, Sea Scouts and STEM Scouts and adult leadership. However, if you have a student who is under 12 and wants to participate, the parent must also be present, however no one should be younger than 11½. The Mid America TEEN CERT program has no restrictions in regards to Scout rank and defaults to each individual Troops’ charter and requirements.

Students should not expect to leave Beaumont any earlier than 12:30 pm on Sunday, November 8.

Some time will be allotted for tents and camp to be set up prior to and during class on Friday evening; However, this emergency preparedness training is the Scouts’ top priority for this weekend. Adult leadership and other volunteers should be on hand to assist with setting up camp and assisting camp staff for the weekend – adult leadership is welcome to register and take the training as well.

Every student participant, teen and adult, will need to complete both sides of the Agreement and Parent Permission Form. If the student is under 18, both the participant and a parent or guardian must sign the form. Each student should bring the signed form and turn it in at the start of the first night of class. Any student without a completed, signed Agreement and Parent Permission Form will not be able to participate in the class. There are no exceptions.

The supplied emergency backpack is included in the registration fee. We will use the kit in class and it is yours to keep after the training. For the best service, you can contact the owner of PrepareSmart, Keith Oratz, at keitho@preparesmart.com or (425) 881-5354.

Have your kits shipped to the GSLAC office, Attn: Mary April, 4568 West Pine Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108. Inform Keith that you are taking the class as part of the Mid America TEEN CERT training program in November. If ordering as a group, please know each person’s shirt size when you contact him.

All students should bring their completed and signed Agreement and Parent Permission Form, paper and pens/pencils to take notes, emergency backpack (if not shipped to GSLAC office), and camping supplies: tent, sleeping bag, camp chair, mess kits, bug repellant, suitable clothing (Class A uniforms on Friday evening but not required), and any additional snacks and water.

Scouts MUST take good notes throughout the training to earn the merit badges; we will not sign off on the merit badges just because a Scout attends the training. As there are 7 merit badges that go along with the TEEN CERT training, it will be expected that everyone takes good notes – between the manual, the PowerPoint deck and instructors there will be a lot of information to write down!

Merit badge cards MUST be signed by the Scoutmaster and completely filled out, except for the counselor # and signature line. The merit badge cards will be signed on the last day of the training. Most of the Scouts will complete all of the badges; however, some may only receive partials (i.e. if any part of a unit is missed or does not pay attention). The Scouts may complete the merit badge worksheets and do some pre-work such as drawing up an evacuation plan from their home, visiting a location and documenting the accessibility to people with disabilities, etc.; however all of the requirements will be met one way or another during the weekend’s training.

On Saturday, 11/7 from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm, Infant/Child/Adult CPR, AED and First Aid/Red Card training will be provided to ONLY the first 50 staff and volunteers signing up. The special cost for this is $35 for a 2-year certification and is only available to the staff and volunteers – no registered students can sign up for this if doing the weekend training program. Materials and certification cards will be included in the cost.